Fort Rucker is a U.S. Army post located mostly in Dale County, Alabama. It was named for Confederate General Edmund Rucker. The post is the primary flight training base for Army Aviation and is home to the United States Army Aviation Museum. Portions of the post also lie in Coffee, Geneva, and Houston counties. It is treated by the United States Census as a census-designated place, and so specific demographic information is compiled on the post's residents.

The main post has entrances from three bordering cities, Daleville, Ozark and Enterprise. For many years before 9/11 the main post (except airfields and other restricted areas) was an open post with unmanned gates allowing civilians to drive through.

The US Army Aviation Center is the dominant military facility at Fort Rucker. Training, doctrine, and testing are all key parts of the Center's mission to develop Army Aviation's capabilities. All Army Aviation training has been undertaken at Fort Rucker since 1973, as well as training of US Air Force helicopter pilots. The Center is home to the US Army Aviation Technical Test Center (ATTC), which conducts developmental aircraft testing for Army Aviation. The United States Army Operational Test and Evaluation Command's Test and Evaluation Coordination Office and TH-67 primary and instrument training are both located at Cairns Army Airfield.

Operational units on the post include the U.S. 1st Aviation Brigade handling Army Aviation training, and the USAF 23d Flying Training Squadron for training of Air Force helicopter pilots. The 1st Aviation Brigade consists of 5 battalions using three different sites. 1st Battallion, 14th Aviation Regiment operates from Hanchey Army Heliport and conducts graduate level training using the AH-64D Apache and OH-58D helicopters. 1st Battalion, 212th Aviation Regiment operates from Lowe Army Heliport and conducts combat and night operational training, as well as training for Latin American allied pilots under the United States Security Cooperation Program, using the OH-58, UH-1, and UH-60 helicopters. 1st Battalion, 223d Aviation Regiment operates from Cairns Army Airfield and Knox Army Heliport and conducts flight training using the CH-47 helicopter and C-12 aircraft. Additional heliports include the Hunt Army Heliport and Shell Army Heliport. Shell had been discontinued as a flight training location in 1993, but new training plans call for operations there to be restarted, with training of basic warfighting skills to be undertaken on the OH-58a/c and TH-67 A+ model helicopters there. Hunt Army Heliport is no longer active. Numerous, small, multi-lane heliports, called "stagefields", exist throughout the southeastern Alabama area to support flight training at Fort Rucker.

Additionally, due to the large number of Warrant Officer pilots, the Warrant Officer Career Center and the Warrant Officer Candidate School are located at Fort Rucker.

Fort Rucker is often referred to as "Mother Rucker", both as an insulting pseudo-homonym, and in deference to the birth of an Army Aviator's career and his or her constant return to the Fort for continued training and responsibility throughout their career.

Support and other facilities at Fort Rucker include the Lyster U.S. Army Community Hospital, United States Army Aeronautical Research Lab, United States Army School of Aviation Medicine, and Army Aviation Center Museum.

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